Autumn in the New Forest

As land­scape pho­tog­ra­phers we are influ­enced by the sea­sons and with the pass­ing of each one, new oppor­tu­ni­ties arrive. As the sum­mer months draw to a close with the sun becom­ing grad­u­al­ly low­er in the sky, the tem­per­a­tures slow­ly dip and the green leaves of our wood­lands change to yel­low, orange and red. For many of us, both pho­tog­ra­phers and non-pho­tog­ra­phers, this is the most cap­ti­vat­ing time of year and one which beck­ons us out.

Wood­lands are places of calm and qui­et dur­ing this sea­son and they have always been places where peo­ple have lived, hunt­ed and sur­vived and are nature’s finest barom­e­ter of sea­son­al change. With so many aspects of autumn wood­land pho­tog­ra­phy at our dis­pos­al, this retreat has been designed so that you learn the skills of com­po­si­tion and edit­ing aimed at invok­ing the same feel­ings in the viewer.

The UK is proud to boast many glo­ri­ous wood­lands in which we can wal­low in the delights of this time of year, but few can afford the almost lim­it­less pho­to­graph­ic delights of the New For­est with over 560 km² of ancient wood­lands, heath­lands and path­ways. Giv­en that vast swathes of this land­scape are cov­ered in old decid­u­ous wood­lands of Oak, Beech and Alder the colours expe­ri­enced dur­ing autumn are noth­ing less that breath-taking. 

It is very easy to lose hours wan­der­ing through the many avenues and bri­dle­ways pass­ing through glades and groves look­ing up at the warm embers of cop­per and gold and there is a sweet, earthy damp­ness in the air as the car­pet of fall­en leaves beneath your feet cush­ion your steps. As the canopy thins this gives way to shafts of warm milky sun­light that illu­mi­nate the moss-cov­ered branch­es arriv­ing as a dap­pled glow on the wood­land floor. 

With many of us expe­ri­enc­ing such an emo­tion­al con­nec­tion to wood­land dur­ing this autum­nal tran­si­tion, to be able to har­ness and express this in our pho­tog­ra­phy is incred­i­bly impor­tant and should be a vital part of our jour­ney. Dur­ing our time togeth­er on this Pho­tog­ra­phy Retreat we will dis­cuss these enlight­en­ing skills and how we can make choic­es of per­spec­tive, emo­tion­al input that con­vey a deep­er mean­ing through a visu­al lan­guage. Dur­ing our time in these beau­ti­ful sur­round­ings, you will be encour­aged to take your time and relax into the expe­ri­ence of being there and mak­e pho­tographs that will come togeth­er as a unique port­fo­lio to you.

All approach­es to pho­tog­ra­phy will be wel­comed. We want you to cre­ate a port­fo­lio that will nev­er been repeat­ed, one that is derived by a com­mu­nion between you and your cho­sen sub­ject, in what­ev­er way you decide to express your­self. This retreat is designed for you to wan­der freely and make a per­son­al con­nec­tion with how you feel about your surroundings.

We have cho­sen The White Buck Inn nes­tled in the sleepy vil­lage of Bur­ley sur­round­ed by the New For­est where we can immerse our­selves in a place that is lit­er­al­ly a retreat from the hus­tle and bus­tle of dai­ly life. Dur­ing our time togeth­er you will enjoy high­ qual­i­ty accom­mo­da­tion, fine meals which are all includ­ed, and we will have our own pri­vate meet­ing room where Paul and Michael will share their expe­ri­ence and knowledge.